Where's Cinderella?

"Me and Caroline (her sister who is 2 and more into Elmo aka "Mel Mo") like Areil best". So I stood there looking at these plastic toys never having seen any of the movies (I wasn't a deprived kid, we just played more than we sat in front of a TV) and two thoughts came to mind: 1) Disney is incredible but do these movies send young girls the wrong message? and 2) Where's the Cinderella in women's basketball? 

The first of these 2 questions I should leave up to a social psychologist especially since I haven't seen the movies. Though I hope young girls don't grow up with just one focus in life: waiting for Prince Charming. Instead, I hope each and every little girl has goals of their own and things they want to achieve. I hope they develop self confidence, skills, talents and a joy for learning. And, I hope they can do this at the same time they are enthralled with Disney characters and dancing to the music in the Princess and the Frog.

But the 2nd question has been mulling around in my head as I wonder why the same teams dominate year after year. I knew UConn would win, we all knew UConn would win. And if I look at the ESPN rankings from the past several years, I see the same teams. UConn, TN, Duke, Baylor, Maryland....  Where are the underdogs? Where are the Butler Bulldogs?  I want to sit on the edge of my seat, screaming at the TV rooting for an upset.

So I'm asking you how we can make this game even more exciting?  How can teams come out of the woodwork to pull off upsets a la Northern Iowa style (men's basketball)? What will turn everyone's bracket upside down and make them scratch their head wondering who chose the winning teams? I want more than one shining moment, I want a ton of them. I'd like women's basketball to excite young girls as much as Disney movies. Because in the end, Ariel and Cinderella are just plastic toys. But the Maya Moore's of the world tangible, real life role models. And I want little girls to dream big.

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